Rifle with detachable magazine and latch therefor

ABSTRACT

A STOCK OF A RIFLE HAS OPPOSITE SIDE WALLS DEFINING A A MAGAZINE CHAMBER, WHICH IS OPEN AT ONE END. EACH OF SAID SIDE WALLS IS FORMED WITH AN APERTURE AND WITH A RECESS WHICH IS OPEN TO SAID CHAMBER. A DETACHABLE MAGAZINE IS CONTAINED IN SAID CHAMBER AND HAS TWO LONGITUDINAL SIDES, EACH OF WHICH IS PROVIDED WITH A NOSE, WHICH IS SPRING-RUGED IN AN OUTWARD DIRECTION AND ENGAGED WITH ONE OF SAID RECESSES. EACH OF SAID LONGITUDINAL SIDES IS ALSO PROVIDED WITH A GRIP LEDGE, WHICH IS SPRING-URGED OUTWARDLY AND PROTRUDES OUTWARDLY FROM SAID STOCK THROUGH ONE OF SAID APERTURES. SAID NOSES ARE ARRANGED TO DISENGAGE SAID RECESSES WHEN SAID GRIP LEDGES ARE DEPRESSED INTO SAID STOCK.

Feb. 16, 1971 K. WAGNER ET AL RIFL EHWITH DETACHABLE MAGAZINE AND LATCH THEREFOR Filed March 4, 1969 3 9a2a 6a 7a BY MT WES? MELT United States Patent 3,562,944 RIFLE WITH DETACHABLE MAGAZINE AND LATCH THEREFOR Karl Wagner and Horst Wesp, Steyr, Austria, asslgnors to Steyr-Daimler-Puch Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna, Austria Filed Mar. 4, 1969, Ser. No. 804,116 Claims priority, application Austria, Apr. 3, 1968, 3,220 Int. Cl. F41c 25/00, 25/02, 25/10 US. Cl. 42-6 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A stock of a rifle has opposite side walls defining a a magazine chamber, which is open at one end. Each of said side walls is formed with an aperture and with a recess which is open to said chamber. A detachable magazine is contained in said chamber and has two longitudinal sides, each of which is provided with a nose, which is spring-urged in an outward direction and engaged with one of said recesses. Each of said longitudinal sides is also provided with a grip ledge, which is spring-urged outwardly and protrudes outwardly from said stock through one of said apertures. Said noses are arranged to disengage said recesses when said grip ledges are depressed into said stock.

This invention relates to locking means for detachable magazines, preferably drum magazines, in rifles. Previously, the rifle has been provided at a suitable point with a spring-loaded locking lever, which engages a notch of the magazine and must be pivotally moved against the spring force when the magazine is to be removed. This locking lever may be replaced by a push button, which may cooperate with an intermediate lever, if desired. All these designs have the disadvantage that the rifleman needs both hands for removing or replacing the magazine because the finger of one hand is required to actuate the locking lever or the push button or the like and the other hand is required to grasp and pull out or insert the magazine. Whereas large or long-rod shaped magazines, which in their inserted state protrude from the firearm, can be operated with one hand because the protruding part of the magazine can be correctly grasped and the locking lever or the like can be operated with the thumb of the same hand, such designs can be adopted only in military firearms. In hunting firearms it is desired fully to accommodate the magazine in the stock so that it is not possible to operate the release mechanism with the hand which grasps the magazine.

It has also been proposed to provide the locking lever in the forward portion of the trigger guard so that the lever can be operated with the index finger of the hand which grasps the rifle at the small of the stock; in these arrangements, the locking lever engages a notch at the rear end of the magazine. In this case too, the second hand is required to remove and insert the magazine, and with longer cartridges and a correspondingly larger dimension of the magazine, measured in the longitudinal direction of the barrel, the inevitable and necessary backlash may cause the magazine to be skewed within the stock so that the charging operation is adversely affected. This backlash is due to the fact that the magazine is locked only at the rear by the locking lever.

It is an object of the invention to eliminate the abovementioned disadvantages and to provide for detachable magazines of rifles a locking device which enables the removal or replacement of the magazine with only one hand and yet ensures a reliable positioning of the magazine in the stock.

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According to the invention, this object is accomplished in that the magazine is provided on each longitudinal side with at least one nose, which is resiliently biased outwardly and which snaps into recess formed in a side wall of the stock or of the shaft liner and is adapted to be urged back from the notch-engaging position by a grip ledge or the like, which laterally protrudes from an aperture in the stock. Hence, the magazine is reliably held in the stock or the stock liner by the noses which are provided on the magazine itself and which engages the recesses of the side wall of the stock or its liner. As the grip ledges laterally protrude from the apertures of the stock, the ma gazine can be grasped at the grip ledges with one hand so that the noses are disengaged from the recesses, and the magazine can be pulled out of the stock, whereas the second hand is required only to hold the rifle in a suitable position but no finger of the second hand is required to operate any lever or the like. The magazine cannot be inadvertently pulled out of the stock because this would require the application of oppositely directed pressures to the pressure ledges provided on both sides; such pressures can only be applied when the pressure ledges are directly gripped. The noses can easily be arranged on the magazine in such a manner that the latter cannot be skewed within the stock or its liner in spite of the backlash which is present. If there is only one nose on each side, it will be arranged in that region in which the cartridge rising into the cartridge chamber exerts from above a downwardly directedy pressure on the magazine.

The design will be simplified if the noses are integral with the grip ledges.

To enable a fixation of the noses and grip ledges against the spring pressure acting thereon, the parts forming the noses and grip ledges interengage at one end with an undercut portion or the like of the magazine and are held at the other end in a recess of a removable magazine end cover, known per se.

Finally according to the invention, the noses are bevelled in the direction in which the magazine is inserted so that the insertion of the magazine automatically causes the noses to be depressed by wedge action, the noses subsequently engage the recesses automatically when the magazine has reached its inserted position and it is not required to operate the grip ledges when the magazine is being inserted.

The subject matter of the invention is shown by way of example on the drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a side elevation showing part of a rifle having an inserted drum magazine,

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on line II-II in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line lII-III in FIG. 2.

In each of FIGS. 2 and 3, different variants are shown in the two halves of the illustration.

A wedgelike portion 2, 2a is inserted in the drum magazine 1 at each of the longitudinal sides thereof and is urged outwardly by springs 3. The forward end of each of part 2 or 2a engages an undercut portion, which is formed by an oblique bore 4. At its rear end, each of parts 2 and 2a is held in an aperture of a removable magazine end cover 5.

It is apparent from the right-hand half of FIG. 2 and the lower half of FIG. 3 that the part 2 has in its forward portion a nose 6, which under the action of the spring 3 engages a recess 7 of the shaft liner 8. Part 2 is formed with a grip ledge 9, which is spaced behind the nose 6 and laterally protrudes through an aperture 10 in the stock.

In the variant shown in the left-hand half of FIG. 2 and the upper half of FIG. 3, part 2a is provided with two 3 noses 6a and an intermediate grip ledge 9a. The noses 6a again engage recesses 7a formed in the side wall of the stock liner 8. An aperture 10a for the grip ledge 9a is also formed in the stock.

When the magazine is gripped at the two grip ledges 9 and 9a and the latter are compressed against the force of the springs 3, the noses 6 or '6a emerge from the recesses 7 or 7a of the stock liner 8 and the magazine 1 can be pulled downwardly. Only one hand is required for this purpose.

When the magazine is inserted, the grip ledges need not be compressed because the noses 6, 6a are bevelled in the direction in which the magazine is inserted (FIG. 2) so that the noses are automatically forced inwardly by the lower edge of the stock liner.

What is claimed is:

1. A rifle, which comprises a stock having opposite side walls defining a magazine chamber which is open at one end,

each of said side walls being formed with an aperture andwith a recess, which is open to said chamber,

a detachable magazine contained in said chamber and having two longitudinal sides, each of which is provided with a nose, which is spring-urged in an outward direction and engaged with one of said recesses,

each of said longitudinal sides also being provided with a grip ledge, which is spring-urged in an outward direction and protrudes outwardly from said stock through one of said apertures,

said noses being arranged to disengage said recesses when said grip ledges are depressed into said stock.

2. A rifle as set forth in claim 1, in which said magazine is drum-shaped.

3. A rifle as set forth in claim 1, in which said opposite side walls are provided with a liner defining at least part of said magazine chamber and at least one of said recesses is formed in said liner.

4. A rifle as set forth in claim 1, in which each of said noses is integral with one of said grip ledges.

5. A rifle as set forth in claim 1, in which said magazine comprises at one end a detachable magazine end cover formed with a recess on each longitudinal side of the magazine,

said magazine is formed with an undercut portion on each longitudinal side thereof,

each of said noses forms a retaining member together with one of said grip ledges, and

each of said retaining members is engaged at one end with one of said recesses in said cover and at the other end with one of said undercut portions.

6. A rifle as set forth in claim 1, in which said noses are formed with bevelled outside surfaces which taper in the direction from said open end into the interior of said chamber.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,657,489 11/1953 Robertson, Jr. 426

3,390,476 7/1968 Vervier 4250 FOREIGN PATENTS 254,744 6/1967 Austria 45-50.2

217,814 1/1970 Austria 426 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner C. T. JORDAN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 42-50 

